Hath No Fury
by BeyondTheClouds777
Summary: Alphonse Elric rarely loses his temper, but when he does, run - your life might depend on it. Because hell hath no fury like a protective little brother. One-shot.


**Summary: Alphonse Elric rarely loses his temper, but when he does, run - your life might depend on it. Because hell hath no fury like a protective little brother. One-shot.**

* * *

Edward and Alphonse were fighting an idiot criminal - again.

Seriously.

Again.

This was getting tedious.

Or, it _would_ have been very tedious, if this particular criminal hadn't been a very particularly skilled alchemist who also just so happened to be particularly skilled in earth alchemy (a particularly uncommon field of alchemy indeed) and particularly keen to _hurl particularly LARGE FREAKING BUILDING BRICKS AT THEIR HEADS OH MY GOSH-_

"Watch your head!" Edward shouted, ducking, as two especially large boulders flew past his head, missing by mere inches. "This guy's insane!"

The criminal alchemist they were fighting had dark eyes, startlingly pale skin, and white teeth bared in a feral, villainous grin, which he aimed at the two brothers. The criminal raised his hand, showing one palm with a transmutation circle tattooed onto pallid skin.

The criminal grinned. "You brats don't know who you're up against!" he cheered, like he was making a speech in front of a class. "Back in the day, they called me Arphaxad the Bloodthirsty, and believe me, that name was _earned!"_

"Arphaxad?" Edward snorted, rising back to his feet, Alphonse right beside him. "How'd you earn _that?"_ He flashed his trademark grin at Alphonse, accompanied by a goofy thumbs-up, and Alphonse would have rolled his eyes if he could.

The criminal was less than thrilled, and it showed on his scarred face. Despite his aggravation, he laced his fingers together coolly and cracked his knuckles, more for dramatic effect than anything else. "Alright, so you've got some fight in you," said the alchemist. "In that case, I'd better make this short."

"WHO YOU CALLIN' SHORT!?" was Edward's _smashing_ reply, and before Alphonse could stop him, the young prodigy had launched himself forward, red coat billowing behind him, hand sword on his prosthetic arm drawn.

Once Edward charged, Alphonse was right behind him, like always.

Edward's first strike was sloppy, like it always was when he was in one of his fits of rage, and Arphaxad the Bloodthirsty dodged it easily. He swung out of the way and kicked up one foot; Edward ducked and sprang out of the way.

Meanwhile, Alphonse aimed a blow at Arphaxad's head, and the quick criminal dodged Alphonse's blow, too. The infamous criminal was definitely a lot lighter on his feet than either Ed or Al had anticipated.

This was going to be tricky.

Ed clapped his hands and slammed his palms onto the pavement. Ginormous spikes rose up from the ground in a long line, heading straight for the criminal. But Arphaxad put forward his tattooed hand, smacked the ground hard, and Edward's spikes crumbled.

Arphaxad grinned and slammed his hands to the ground again. The entire alleyway began to fall apart as the alchemist shifted the earthen base of the pavement.

"Aw, crap!" Edward shouted, more annoyed than ever, as he jumped into the air to avoid the ground cracking beneath him. While Edward was momentarily distracted, Alphonse kept on with his own blows, delivering one after another at the criminal, who ducked and dove out of the way expertly, like he'd been training all his life for this moment.

"Alphonse, his left hand!" Edward shouted, regaining his footing and charging to help his brother. "That's the one with the earth transmutation circle! If we can take it out - ACK!" He had to duck as Arphaxad, between dodging Alphonse's blows, managed to pull a stone from the ground and hurl it at Edward. The rock sailed harmlessly over Ed's head.

"Right!" Alphonse called back, not needing Edward to finish his sentence to know exactly what his older brother was thinking. "I got it!"

Alphonse swung, and Arphaxad ducked. Edward tried to land a blow to Arphaxad's new position, but the criminal dodged that, too. Back and forth they went, Edward using alchemy on occasion to disrupt what remained of the pavement and the criminal doing whatever he could to retaliate.

But finally, Edward managed to slice his hand sword across Arphaxad's left palm, tearing the transmutation circle tattoo in half.

"Oh yeah! Strike!" Edward cheered, mentally giving himself and Al a pat on the back, but in his one moment of cockiness, he let his guard down, for a split second.

And that split second was enough.

Most people Edward fought pulled back in pain or gave up entirely once their best defense was compromised - in this case, it was an earth transmutation circle tattoo.

But Arphaxad the Bloodthirsty didn't pull back even once. Instead, he raised one leg, swung, and his heel met Edward's skull with a particularly sickening _crack._

"BROTHER!"

Alphonse's shout went unnoticed. The force of the kick sent Edward hurling into the side of a building, and he smacked, back first, into it, crumpling to the ground in a heap of unmoving limbs.

Edward had a high pain tolerance, granted, and he could take a beating and still get up and fight a moment later.

But even the most skilled and strong of fighters would be taken down by a move like the one Arphaxad the Bloodthirsty had pulled. Edward's eyes were shut, and a splotch of red spread through his golden hair.

"EDWARD!" Alphonse shouted desperately. "BROTHER!"

But Ed didn't move.

Arphaxad cracked his knuckles again and groaned. Blood dripped from the deep cut in his palm. "Ah, dang brat," Arphaxad muttered, reaching down and rolling up the leg of his pants. Arphaxad had an automail limb from his shin to his heel. "He should know that he isn't the only person on the planet with automail."

Alphonse hardly heard these snide comments, too horrified to move. He stared at his older brother in terror, suddenly remembering a similar scenario, in which he had run to his brother in a suit of armor for the first time, seeing nothing but a small figure amidst a sea of blood.

Back then, it had been Ed and Al's own mistake that brought the misfortune.

But now...it wasn't their fault. It was Arphaxad the Bloodthirsty's fault.

And suddenly, when that thought crossed Alphonse's bodiless mind, something snapped.

Alphonse wasn't sure what it was, exactly, and he didn't think he ever would, but _something_ snapped, and whatever it was, it was a pretty big something, because one moment he was standing there, unmoving, and the next moment, he had hurled a gigantic fist straight at Arphaxad's face.

Arphaxad didn't dodge in time, and Al's armored hand smacked the side of his head and sent him tumbling to the ground with a shout of furious pain.

" _HOW DARE YOU!?"_ Alphonse shrieked, and for a moment, he didn't recognize his own voice. The only thing he fully registered right now was Arphaxad and the fact that Arphaxad had _hurt his brother and no one was allowed to hurt his brother and get away with it._

Al had a tough life. He and Edward both. Their father abandoned them. Their mother was stripped away from them. They fought for their lives constantly. Alphonse was always adapting to life in a suit of armor, always dealing with awkward questions on why he wore the armor, all the while trying not to let his secret out.

He didn't mind being fought, really. He was practically indestructible.

But Edward was off-limits. No one was allowed to hurt his brother.

"Hey, hey!" Arphaxad said, backing away from Alphonse like his life depended on it (and it probably did) as the seven foot suit of armor advanced threateningly. "Take it easy! Serious-"

 _SMACK!_

Another punch, dead on target.

"YOU KEEP AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!" Alphonse demanded furiously, and another punch was delivered. "DO YOU HEAR ME!?" Another harsh slap to Arphaxad's murderous face. "STAY...AWAY...FROM...MY...BIG... _BROTHER!"_

He didn't know how much time passed, honestly, he didn't. All he knew was that when he finally cooled down and started thinking clearly, Arphaxad had been reduced to an unconscious bleeding heap of limbs and scraggly hair.

He was (un)fortunately alive, but that didn't matter.

Because once Alphonse got over his anger, his thoughts turned back to his brother.

As soon as they did, he spun on his heel and charged over to where Edward laid unconscious.

"Brother!" he shouted, armored feet pounding against cracked pavement, and he crashed to the ground beside Edward, instantly reaching out to grasp his brother's shoulder. "Brother, are you alright? Brother? Brother, answer me! _Ed!"_

"Nnnnghh…" Edward groaned and squeezed his eyes shut tight, then opened them, blinking multiple times in a daze. He squinted up at Al in confusion, brows knitting together. A streak of blood ran down his face, another soaking through his hair. "...Alphonse?"

"Yeah," Alphonse said, and when Edward braced his hands against the ground, Alphonse helped him sit up. Edward hissed in pain and slumped against the side of the alley. "Are you alright?"

"Peachy," Edward hissed through his teeth. "Just peachy, don't you worry…"

Alphonse made a mental note to check Edward into a hospital as soon as they made it back to Central. They had been attacked by Arphaxad, quite out of the blue, while exploring an abandoned alley, so they were really in a somewhat secluded area.

Edward pitched forward suddenly, eyes going wide. "Arphaxad," he said anxiously, eyes searching for the criminal. "Did he get away? Where is he?" He looked around wildly for a moment or two, confused.

And then, his eyes fell on the unconscious, unmoving form that had once been a cackling, snarky criminal.

He frowned, already ragged breathing getting worse.

"B...Brother…?" Alphonse said uncertainly.

Edward didn't answer. He raised his unsteady finger to point at the unmoving bloody heap. "Who...the heck...did _that?"_ he managed, finger shaking somewhat.

"Oh, um…" Alphonse started nervously, and Edward watched him. "I...think...um...it was me."

Edward only stared, brows furrowing once again. "Who now?"

"Me," Alphonse repeated, more firmly this time. "I did that to Arphaxad." At Edward's confused look, Alphonse went on. "When he knocked you out, I…" He paused, mentally swallowing. "...I lost my temper."

"You lost your…?" Edward said dumbly, and Alphonse nodded. He waited for some sort of scolding, for Edward's trademark "you shouldn't have done that, you need to be careful" protective big-brother speech.

But it never came.

Instead, Edward exhaled shudderingly, and his shoulders shook; for a moment, Alphonse thought maybe he was shivering, or maybe even seizing from the head wound, but then he realized his big brother was laughing.

 _Laughing_.

And for a moment, Alphonse worried that Edward had hit his head a lot harder than he let on. "Uh, Brother…?" Alphonse started uncertainly. "Are...are you okay?"

Edward let out a huge sigh once he stopped cackling, and he leaned against the alley again and shut his eyes, smile still owning his face. "Fine," he panted. "Just...remind me...never to get on your bad side...alright?"

Alphonse sat back. "You're not...you're not mad?"

"No. Shocked, yeah, but not mad. I'm actually kinda impressed. Who knew your temper could be as uncontrollable as mine." Edward flashed him a grin when he finished the sentence, but the grin was quickly replaced by a frown and grimace of pain.

"Alright," Alphonse said, suddenly very serious, "I'm going to have a doctor look at you. You were hit pretty hard."

He expected his brother to protest, but instead, Edward simply nodded shakily, and his quick agreement only proved how much pain he was actually in. "Yep, sounds good," he said. "He really clocked me there, didn't he…" He reached up, touched his head, and winced. "Yeah...note to self: don't get clocked again…"

"Right." Alphonse bent down and, without warning, scooped Edward into his armored arms. "Sorry, I don't trust you walking right now."

"Nah, I getcha," said Edward tiredly, leaning the side of his head against his brother's metal shoulder. "I'd probably face plant the ground and give myself a real nice concussion, huh?"

"You're really not funny, Brother. And you probably already have a concussion."

"Nah, shut up. I'm hilarious and you know it."

"You're really _not."_

"Meh. More importantly, what are we gonna do with ol' mince meat over there?"

"Mince meat? You mean Arphaxad?"

"Uh-huh, that's the one."

"...Hey, don't call him mince meat! I wasn't _that_ hard on him!"

"He's unconscious, Al…"

"You really _aren't_ funny, Brother!"

"Oy! _Rude!"_

…

While Edward suffered only a mild concussion, which he recovered from quickly in a private military hospital, Arphaxad the Bloodthirsty wasn't so lucky. Broken ribs, a cracked skull, and not to mention other rather unpleasant injuries had him sent to the local hospital for prison inmates.

When looking over the Elric brothers' reports and hearing about Arphaxad's current condition, Roy Mustang wondered where Arphaxad would stay longer: the hospital for his injuries, or the prison for his crimes.

And from then on out, everyone who knew the Elric brothers made sure not to get on Alphonse's bad side - more specifically, not to somehow bring harm to the older of the two.

Because hell hath no fury like a protective little brother.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **I honestly have no idea where this thing came from. Between Ed and Al, Alphonse always had the longer fuse, but I still like to think he'd** _ **lose it**_ **if someone blatantly hurt Edward. I honestly think Alphonse would lose it. And then he'd probably feel guilty about it later, but whatever. XD**

 **And I'm kinda like that, too. I don't mind being insulted or hurt by someone, but the minute it happens to someone else, especially my friends or family...well...I get angry. Really angry. I'm not even sure why. So I guess that's kind of what I inspired this off of. Other than that, I don't have an explanation.**

 **Anyways.**

 **I'm normally really good at catching errors in my fanfictions before I post them, but then again, my eyes aren't always the best, so if you guys catch any major errors or whatnot, feel free to let me know, 'kay? This was kind of hastily written and proof-read, so I wouldn't be surprised to find a few errors.**

 **Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed this one-shot! :D Thanks for reading! :D Drop me a review if you fancy! It'd make my day! :D**

 **Cheers! ("Oh snap, snap! Spark, spark! It's time to light up the diggy-diggy dark!" XD)**

 **-BeyondTheClouds777**


End file.
